A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM TELEMUNDO & mun2

Cynopsis Media presents: 

Spanish Language Market

05/03/11

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, May 3, 2011, and this is your this is the first installment of this special five-part series on this year’s Upfront season. 

SPANISH LANGUAGE UPFRONT: 50 MILLION REASONS TO BE OPTOMISTIC

 By Daisy Whitney

Spanish-language networks have more than 50 million reasons to be optimistic for this year’s upfront.

Indeed, with the Census figures now officially placing the Hispanic population in the United States at 50 million, up from 35 million in 2000, the Hispanic media market is in an enviable spot. Not only is the economy steady, with scatter and last year’s upfront both strong, but their sector is one of the few that has the wind at its back.

“There is interest across the board in Spanish-language media,” said Steven Wolfe Pereira, EVP/Managing Director of MV42/MediaVest Multicultural. “The market is no longer just Univision and Telemundo.” Brands and agencies are spending money to reach the Spanish-speaking population through smaller and newer networks too. As a result, most Spanish-language networks are expecting an uptick in dollars and volume during the upfront. They also see growth coming as new categories up their spending in Hispanic media, such as pharmaceutical and financial.

That’s because the Census confirmed not only overall population growth, but also huge bumps in different levels of Hispanic acculturation, said Jacqueline Hernandez, Chief Operating Officer at Telemundo. “It’s very much on everyone’s radar,” she said. “Overall dollars will be up this year and existing categories will be doubling down, not just in the traditional way, but in innovative ways and cross platform. You will see growth across the board.”

But networks shouldn’t expect a dramatic shift in dollars from other media, some buyers cautioned. “Hispanic consumers’ spending also increased at a greater rate than non-Hispanics,” said Christine Fuller, MEC Managing Partner and Director of Implementation. “This increased purchasing power has not been fully exploited. With that said, the overall market for 2011-12 should see moderate revenue growth. It is not clear how many marketers are making radical shifts between English language and Spanish language. We are not predicting a radical change to the Spanish-language upfront market this year.”
        

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Multicultural Lens

Given the population boom, marketers and agencies are adjusting their strategies for the Hispanic market. Rather than looking at the Hispanic market and the general market as silos, they are looking at the “total market,” Hernandez said. “You want to have a total market view and when you speak to the consumer so you’re doing it across multiple touchpoints and not just running an ad, but running a campaign.”

That’s especially important considering how the youth market is dominated by multicultural consumers, Pereira said. And that’s why marketers are working internally to get that message to their C-suite as well, he said. “Marketers need to say ‘I am marketing to a multicultural nation.'” For MediaVest, that has meant implementing a total marketing approach for its clients like Kraft, Walmart, Coca-Cola and P&G, he said. “You aren’t going to have separate flow charts to do general market buys first and then spend leftover pennies for Spanish. You have one flow chart and one plan and you look at the plans from the ground up to see who your core consumer is and what really ignites their passion points.”

The Market

That holistic approach may help many networks win more dollars to go along with their ratings. On many nights, Univision beats some of the English-language broadcast networks so it competes at the upfront for both Spanish-language money and broadcast money. Last year, the network registered a 22% growth in upfront dollar volume, said David Lawenda, President of Advertising Sales and Marketing at Univision Communications. He added that eight out of top ten CPG clients said they had shifted some of their English language network buys to Univision in 2010 because of the expected Census, so that shift is likely to continue in this year’s upfront. Another promising sign is the second quarter scatter market. Univision has seen 25% CPM increases to coincide its 10% increase in A18-49 ratings for the season to date.

Most networks are expecting an expansion of money from existing marketers as other brands in a marketer’s portfolio come on board. Strong categories in the Hispanic market include CPG, health and beauty, automotive, quick service restaurants and telecom. The categories trending up are retail, food, beer, and beauty/cosmetics, said Victor M. Parada, VP of Advertising Sales for Discovery Networks Latin America/U.S. Hispanic. “Beer advertisers are looking for more ways to engage their target audience beyond the more traditional means of reaching men via sports networks. Retail and beauty product advertisers have traditionally relied on broadcast, but they are now interested in going beyond the traditional broadcast programming staples such as beauty pageants and award shows. Discovery Familia responds to this need by providing Hispanic women with lifestyle programming designed to empower them with ways to live a better life.”

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New Media and MultiPlatform

Spanish-language networks have been among the most innovative in offering new media opportunities and clever brand integration to marketers, Pereira said.

In fact, marketers should actively pursue the multiplatform world of Hispanics and look to reach them across digital, mobile and TV during the upfront, MEC’s Fuller said.  However, networks need to be realistic in how they price digital and mobile, she added.

Networks may also need to prove to some reluctant advertisers that the Spanish language market can be as refined as other market segments. Telemundo has done that by amping up the type of research its offers. The network partnered last year with Starcom to study Latino psychographics and provide a more nuanced lens into the wide range of Hispanic consumers.

NuvoTV, the rebranded SiTV, is positioning itself as the home for highly educated and bicultural Hispanic Americans, and that’s where much of the growth in the Census came from, said Craig Geller, SVP Ad Sales. Of the 15 million new Hispanic growth, about 80% comes from bicultural homes comprising $650 billion in buying power, he said. Geller expects to double the numbers of advertisers on air in NuvoTV’s upfront to about 40 or 45 total with growth coming in CPG, wireless, retail, movies, QSR and new additions in pharmaceutical and financial.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges is that many English language media buyers aren’t watching Spanish language shows. “We’re not watercooler content,” Lawenda said. “Our primetime novellas beat American Idol and Glee in some markets and we are a ratings and content powerhouse, but some of the English language agencies don’t always consume our shows, so we have to work a little harder to educate.”

Content offerings need to broaden too, Pereira said. “We need to see more offerings for different types of consumers whether women, moms, families. More about where they are and where they are going. That’s what this market needs.”

Expanding Market

Sports offerings are deepening, thanks in part to ESPN Deportes, now in 13 million homes. “The sports landscape is very active and clients are hoping for the elusive male consumer,” said John Fitzgerald, VP of Multimedia Sales at ESPN Deportes, who said some marketers have shifted GRPs from primetime to Spanish-language sports. “It’s also a safe environment and an ad-friendly one.”

Further evidence of the Hispanic growth is the sheer prevalence of networks targeting the market now. Fox Hispanic Media will host an upfront presentation on May 17 showcasing Fox Deportes, newly-launched Utilisima, 24-hour Spanish-language women’s lifestyle network; and newcomer Nat Geo Mundo. MTV also has Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas (Tr3s: MTV, Music and More) targeting bilingual viewers, 12 to 34. 

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This Upfront 2011 Special Edition and all previous Special Editions from Cynopsis Media are available to read or download after publishing here.

Later —
Daisy Whitney for Cynopsis
05.03.11

Cynopsis Ad Sales:
Mike Farina – VP/Business Development & Sales – 203-218-6480 / [email protected]
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